Financial Services Industry Strategist

Industry Strategist

Lumen connects the world. We are igniting business growth by connecting people, data and applications – quickly, securely, and effortlessly. Together, we are building a culture and company from the people up – committed to teamwork, trust and transparency. People power progress. We're looking for top-tier talent and offer the flexibility you need to thrive and deliver lasting impact. Join us as we digitally connect the world and shape the future.

The Lumen Strategic Technologies Partnership team is at the forefront of industry and AI transformations. We provide industry insights, provide thought leadership to customers, and inspire solutions that empower our partners to innovate, adapt, and delight their own customers. Our collaborative approach involves working closely with customers, partners (Hyperscalers, ISVs, SIs), and industry leaders to drive success on Lumen through impactful industry solutions that enable digital transformation.

We are seeking a dynamic Industry Strategist with deep industry expertise in financial services vertical (FSI). As the FSI Strategist, you will play a pivotal role in developing and executing Lumen's industry strategy, identifying market gaps, and driving growth through industry priority scenarios and innovative solutions enabled by Lumen + partners. This position requires a senior, visionary thought leader who can navigate a transforming technology & business landscape to motivate both an industry and its strategic partners, to create scaling value through industry narratives and solutions.

This role drives growth and will initially focus on developing and validating an industry strategy, quickly moving into developing a full set of field ready assets to enable high impact industry solutions in conjunction with strategic partners, including integrated software vendors (ISV), systems integrators (SI), and Hyperscale partnerships, that deliver strategic joint value to our mutual customers. This role is equally responsible for driving awareness through thoughtful internal and external awareness campaigns out the thought leadership and industry narratives you developed, drive go-to-market motions, and pairing our partners with Lumen direct sellers to co-sell customer deals.

The ideal candidate must possess a deep understanding of the financial services industry. The candidate must possess strong relationship-building skills and ideally a proven track record in strategic planning and execution with partner organizations.

The Main Responsibilities

Industry Strategy:

• Bring experience and knowledge to develop a financial services industry specific strategy that best positions Lumen's portfolio in concert with partners, creating Lumen's point of view and narrative for the industry, industry priority pillars, customer scenarios and industry solutions. The strategy output will be scaled through awareness campaigns.

Strategic Partnership:

• Collaborate with the entire Lumen team including our team's field CTO, our Global Partnership teams, and our Product teams to land and scale our industry priority scenarios.

Ecosystem Engagement:

• Engage with our partner ecosystem to identify and scale our strategic and market-moving partners. You will play a pivotal role in enabling priority scenarios by mutual value creation and driving partner enablement to support Cosell motions that leads to market expansion.

GTM Planning:

• Develop a clear Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy and execution plan for industry priority scenarios. Execution plan includes generating awareness, acquiring customers, identifying target audience, analyze competitors and prepare differentiated points of view.

Thought Leadership:

• Think beyond the status quo. Drive transformation and innovation by advocating co-innovation with customers. Be the go-to industry subject matter expert (SME) with a purpose-driven solutions portfolio to increase reach and speed to market.

Competitive Differentiation:

• Evangelize unique selling proposition, brand identity, and niche focus by creating messaging and emotional appeal. Understand what sets us apart and use that insight to drive consensus building with existing and new clients.

Trusted Advisor:

• Support solution sales by providing commercial teaching. Help customers see the value we bring and establish yourself as a trusted advisor.

Cross-Team Collaboration:

• Participate in cross-team governance processes. Represent the needs of industry solutions, customers, and the field. Collaborate with product teams and corporate functions to accelerate innovative strategies.

Performance Excellence:

• Drive business results. Deliver robust reporting and learnings to enhance our impact.

Industry Advocacy:

• Be an advocate for the industry within Lumen. Champion our industry solutions and ecosystem of partners and contribute to industry thought leadership.

What we look for in a candidate:

• Experience and strong understanding of financial service industry – and the value / cost drivers that can move the industry for Lumen
• Demonstrated experience as a senior industry solution sales or consulting position in a competing company or partner
• Deep industry expertise to enable translation of business requirements into field and customer messaging and readiness materials
• Clear communicator with ability to translate technology solutions into business outcome driven sales tools
• Experience in sales, sales management, complex sales training, sales methodologies, broad evangelism through events & campaigns, and consultative selling
• Knowledge & influence within industry forums, tradeshows, committees
• Skilled at prioritization, creating order and marshalling resources towards achieving a common goal
• Experience in managing virtual teams without direct reporting authority
• Confidence operating autonomously, often within ambiguity, and the flexibility to accommodate change and thrive amid ambiguity
• Passion for technology as an enabler for Lumen's growth
• Bachelor's Degree and related field experience

Compensation:

This information reflects the anticipated base salary range for this position based on current national data. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. Individual pay is based on skills, experience and other relevant factors.

Location Based Pay Ranges:

• $149,084 - $198,779 in these states: AL AR AZ FL GA IA ID IN KS KY LA ME MO MS MT ND NE NM OH OK PA SC SD TN UT VT WI WV WY
• $156,539 - $208,718 in these states: CO HI MI MN NC NH NV OR RI
• $163,993 - $218,657 in these states: AK CA CT DC DE IL MA MD NJ NY TX VA WA

Lumen offers a comprehensive package featuring a broad range of Health, Life, Voluntary Lifestyle benefits and other perks that enhance your physical, mental, emotional and financial wellbeing. We're able to answer any additional questions you may have about our bonus structure (short-term incentives, long-term incentives and/or sales compensation) as you move through the selection process.

Equal Employment Opportunities:

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, "protected statuses"). We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training.

Disclaimer:

The job responsibilities described above indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not intended to include a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities for this job. Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on evolving business needs and conditions. In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information. Please be advised that Lumen does not require any form of payment from job applicants during the recruitment process. All legitimate job openings will be posted on our official website or communicated through official company email addresses. If you encounter any job offers that request payment in exchange for employment at Lumen, they are not for employment with us, but may relate to another company with a similar name.

Application Deadline: 10/15/2025